Alchemy in the Hellenistic Empire
Alchemy is an ancient art in Lemurias. It originated in Khemet, Aryavarta, and the Middle Kingdom; although each had their differences of style. In Khemet, Alchemy is the last of the sciences still living and it was passed down to the Hellenes when Alexander conquered Khemet in his aim of spreading Hellenistic culture. According to the Pathfinder game's Alchemy Manual, Alchemy -- which is a true science of the Ancients, it was only in the Middle Ages that it was Mystified and combined with Astrology -- is divided by culture. Dwarven Alchemy :-- ''Against a Crooked Sky Dwarven alchemy is exactly the same as recounted in the Alchemy Manual, ''page 12, under Dwarven Magical Ales . Dwarves love their drink and will make them magic. Ale, one of the oldest fermented drinks known to mankind (wine and mead being the other two), is produced by fermenting barley malt. This is done by steeping the malt in water and then adding brewers yeast to the malt, turning it into must. The fermentation process turns the must into ale. Ale was invented by Man before the Deluge. The dwarves, since then, have turned this practice of brewing ale into a fine art. As a result, a number of fine ales have been created by the dwarves, and the result is a number of bocks, ales, bitters, and lambics -- and even beer. Man would not catch up to the dwarves for a while yet. The result is a new kind of fighter that impresses those that practice the Eight Drunken Fairies style of martial arts, and three kinds of Dwarven magical ales available in Phaeselis. The magical ales that the dwarves produce are always strong. They never fail to cause the dipsomaniac to get drunk or tipsy. However, the difference between the magical ales and the common brew is that the dwarves add a little something extra besides the effects of intoxication. These "something extra" are effects that differ with each brew, but in many cases rival the potency of true magical potions. The Alchemy of Khemet The Alchemy of Khemet is Ancient, existing before the introduction of Heathen worship into the Old Kingdom of Khemet during the Age of Cancer (At least on Earth). It's probably the oldest science in existence, and what was Alchemy from Khemet is now Chemistry in the modern world. On Lemurias, the Alchemy of Khemet is represented by the Base Alchemist class in the Advanced Player's Guide. None of the Archetypes from Ultimate Magic or Ultimate Combat is represented by Khemetian Alchemy. Khemetian Alchemy also uses the Spontaneous Alchemy rules in the ''Alchemy Manual. The tradition of Alchemy in Khemet is so old that the Alchemists can add Spontaneity into the mix. The Alchemy of the Hellenes Hellenistic Alchemy is combined with logic and reason. Hellenistic Alchemy is represented not only by the Base Class, but by the chirurgeon, clone master, preservationist, the vivisectionist, and the rest of the archetypes. How it got there, though, was quite a story. Hippocrates changed Medical Science by coming up with the Hippocratic Oath that at that time, all priests, vitalists, and chirurgeons shared -- as they were all priests of Asclepius. Hippocrates' Oath instituted the idea of patient confidentiality and embodied his own oath in Ol. 89,1 (420 B.C.). Little did anyone know that this would hold back medical science for about twenty Olympiads, or one century. During the last years of Alexander's life, however, everything would change. In Ol. 114,2 after a decade of riotous living, heavy drinking, and conquering all of Persis (Ariya) Alexander had grown ill at the age of 32. His two physicians, one a Chirurgeon alchemist of Ascelpius who went by the name of Philip of Acarnania. The other was Adanestos of Delos. Adenestos worked to keep the king comfortable while Philip worked feverishly using his Alchemical Knowledge to improve the efficacy of poultices so that he could cure the King of his disease. Finally, by fermentation he developed something that could save the king's life, but the king died. Philip of Acarnania returns to Alexandria The death of Alexander devastated Philip of Acarnania and he took out his grief on Adanestos of Delos by having an argument over the Hippocratic Oath. After the argument, the two preserved Alexander's body in honey and Philip of Acarnania took his dead king back to Alexandria (on the Nile). Back in Khemet, Philip of Acarnania had one burning goal in his mind, to use Alchemy to bring Alexander back to life. In his first month staying at Alexandria, Philip of Acarnania started the Alexandrian Akadi̱mía ti̱s Alchi̱meías kai ti̱s Iatrikí̱s (Ακαδημία της Αλχημείας και της Ιατρικής, the Academy of Alchemy and Medicine) and renounced the Hippocratic Oath! Taking on any promising students, he enrolled half of them in the School of Medicine, and the other half in the School of Alchemy. Without the Hippocratic Oath to Asclepius, his students experimented with Alchemy and Medicine. Some of them began to vivisect criminals and discect the dead in order to understand how the human body worked. Others worked with poultices and syrups in order to improve their efficacy. In Ol. 114,4 progress was being made in the school of medicine. And the priests and vitalists looked upon these pioneering physicians with a combination of revulsion and morbid interest. In Ol 115,3; one of the students, a Kemetian named Acenith made a breakthrough. While studying how the human body work she came on a curious discovery by mixing a few reagents and creating a highly reactive substance. She drank it and her body started to mutate! She invented the first'' mutagenic substance. She taught her discoveries to the other Alchemists, and soon they were experimenting with mutagens. The chirurgeons took different paths. Even as Arastes of Alexandria started to make the journey to the fabled Middle Kingdom. Meanwhile, Philip's student chirurgeons continued their experimentation. A few tested the myths of the gods and attempted to serrepteously impregnate women with all sorts of biological and inert materials. They learned in Ol 115,4 that chimeras cannot be produced, but they learned that virgins could have children. Heirophilos and Erastus carried on the experiments. Heirophilos was enamored with the mind, and Erastus with the body. Heirophilos studied Khemetian psychics, and worked on improving the mind. He soon moved to Phaeselis and pioneered Mind Chemistry, becoming the first Mindchemist. Erastus stayed in Alexandria. Then in 116,1 Philip of Acarnania came face to face with one of his Alchemy students who has seemed to change on his own without the need of mutagens into a half-man, half-wolf! Facing this student, who developed a second personality in his mutated form, the two got into a scuffle and Philip was mortally wounded by the first Master Chymist. As he laid dying, he made Erastus promise to continue the clone research he was personally pioneering. Erastus agreed. The further development of Alexandrian Biotechnology Erastus took everything one step further. He reasoned that he had to look at ever smaller, or infintestmally small parts of the human body. Using the magnifying properties of water in a glass bowl, Erastus designed the first lenses and created the first microscopes. Angry that the green tint of glass was getting in the way of what he was seeing, he used his fortune to fund Glassmaking research. The glassmakers, prodded by Erastus' needs, soon added various ores to the chemical mix of glass, and soon they developed a colorless, clear glass. From this, Erastus completed his first microscropes from which he could see clearly. He continued to use school funds to commission the development of better steels. One steel became favored, a steel that similar to surgical steel; although Erastus and the other chirurgeons liked glass best. In Ol 119,1; Erastus improved his microscope and could see the nucleus of the cell for the first time in the same detail as Doctors in the 50s could see it. During Ol. 120,1 (24 years after the 114th Olympiad), Erastus died by drinking hemlock mixed with wine at a party. His favored student, Jason of Alexandria, vowed to continue clone research. Meanwhile, his students looked to making Alchemical applications to society. Alchemy Advances Alchemy continued to advance during the 116th Olympiad and the 117th Olympiad. Arastes of Alexandria returned from the Middle Kingdom bearing the recipe for blackpowder (charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur) . From this, Arastes developed the first alchemical bombs, which he shared with the Alchemical community. Soon, Alchemists everywhere experimented with blackpowder and improved on the recipe. The Mindchemists in Phaeselis, however, couldn't bring themselves to make a potent mix. They were too engrossed in making cogentogens. Jason's chirurgeons were experimenting with performance enhancing drugs (called potions still) on athletes. Until someone got the idea that mutagens could some how be used to improve performance. They started to experiment with mutagenic substances that would alter the chemistry of other people's bodies. The result was the development of mutagens that could work on other people, for a price. The mutagens were turning their subjects into monsters (''chimaera)! The monsters attacked out of anger and set the school of Alchemy on fire. However, Hippodamia and Arestros saved much of the research and escaped for the land of Hesperidea where they could hopefully continue. They had to rebuild the school of Alchemy, but off the Academy's grounds. Despite that, Alchemical students have developed bombs and mutagens beyond the range of understanding. Hellenistic Alchemy had definitely became the land of the Wild West. To curb what the Hellenes were doing to the Old Science, the Pharoah had all Hellenistic alchemists participating in dangerous research to be gathered up and expelled from his kingdom. Nothing could be best for the alchemists! Khemetian alchemy returned to just mixing chemicals. But Hellenistic Alchemists from the School of Alchemy started their own academies and past on what they have learned. Clone Research Continues! finally, in Ol 122,3; Jason of Alexandria made some important breakthroughs for cloning. Having studied the clone spell, Jason of Alexandria impregnated the first woman with the first artificially inseminated egg. The egg grew to term and she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Meanwhile, other Chirurgeons came up with the germ theory of Disease, and started treating disease germs. They improved their nosopharmaka ''and developed the first ''vaccines. By Ol 122,4 they could treat rabies, small pox, cholera, and tetanus successfully with vaccines. In Ol 123,1 Jason of Alexandria died of natural causes and Dionysius Athanatos took up his work. Finally, Dionysius completed Jason's working theory on Genetics, calling the philosophy Genetikosophia. He continued research into true Chimaeraism and Cloning. Again, he was studying the Clone spell and tried to get a wizard to perform the spell. Finally, he came into cooperation with Tiresestes of Athens, and the two worked together to perfect the science of cloning. Using the theory of Genetikosophia, Tirsestes would clone a person, and Dionysus would study the results, hoping to get the mechanics. After observing it, he came to an idea during the 125th Olympiad. In Ol. 125,3 he perfected his results and started experimenting. He created the first frog using Genetikosone (Chromosome) research. He then cloned the first mammal, a sheep. After that, he cloned the first human. After the first human clone, Dionysius finally broke off from Chirurgery and stepped into the frontier of the Clone Master. ''He had done it! He could finally fulfill Philip's dying wish -- he could finally clone Alexander the Great and bring him back to life. Chimaerae in Ol 123, research into making Chimaerae has continued unabated. The idea of creating an animal with human (or humanoid) characteristics had become appealing. In time, about Ol 115,3 Dragonborn were admitted to the school, and it was a Dragoborn researcher who completed creating Chimaeras in Ol 122,2. The Dragonborn, one named Naxan, crossed over the territory when he successfully created a Chimaera by combining a human with a chimpanzee. The humanzee, called an ''Anthropithekene, ''is a being created by manipulating the number of genetikosones in a chimpanzee ovum, and fusing it with human semen. Naxan continues his work, but his students have become the first ''vivisectionists when they used animals as stock and discovered the anthropomorphic animal extract. In Ol 123,1 he made the first non-sterile mule, and goat/kine hybrids. In Ol 113,2 Naxan continued his research and made Dragonborn/crocodile hybrids using the same principle as creating the humanzee, which he dubbed the Drakocrocodelos. ''Needless to say, they were sterile, and they did not like to be. Nevertheless, he completed his work in Ol 124,2 and successfully made ''Drakocrocodelae that were able to breed true. They soon were trained as a soldier race. Results of all this Alchemical Research In Ol 125,1; Dionysius successfully cloned a second Alexander from Alexander the Great's dead tissue. Alexander V soon deposed the Pharoah of Khemet and became Pharoah himself. Unfortunately, the clone had inherited certain aspects of Alexander's personality and has a disposition for megalomania and riotous living. However, Hellenistic Alchemy grew from Chirurgery and Khemetian Alchemy to include most of the known archetypes and also the Prestige Class -- Master Chymist. So, by Ol 125,3 -- the year the campaign starts, Alexander V is Pharoah at 2 years of age over the Kingdom of Parmenio, with Parmenio V ruling as Pharonic Regent. Alchemists of all types are spread through out the Empire and the rest of the Hellenistic World, spreading their knowledge and while some of them are being a menace, others are being physicians in curing the sick and injured. Some have become Master Chymists, others are vivisectionists, clone masters, mindchemists, rage chemists, beast morphs, reanimators, preservationists, and psychonauts. but as for the reanimators, well, they have a different story to tell for another page. Hellenistic Alchemists do benefit from the Spontaneous Alchemy rules in the Alchemy Manual since the center of Hellenistic learning is in Alexandria (on-the-Nile); where Khemetian Alchemy is deseminated and taught. The Alchemy of the Ariyans Ariyan Alchemy is similar to Katapeshi Drug Crafting . The alchemists of Ariya (Persia) specialize in making drugs for recreational use. The Ariyans use hashish (a cannabis product) and the vibrant cactus pesh to create drugs for recreation. With the filtering of ayuhausca from the far away land of Hesperia, along with native cannabis; the amount of drugs that Ariyan alchemists can produce is limitless. Pesh is often consumed as raw curds, as is, by the poor in order to get a lift. Ayuhausca requires processing by a shaman or a Psychonaut before it can be used. And cannabis needs to be processed into Hashish. In the back alleyways of Ariyanopolis, however, the Ariyans have an organized designer drug industry that is meant to cater to the rich and powerful. They employ gardeners, alchemists, and distributors who tinker with hybrid plants, combined recipes, and new formulae for the distribution to the rich and anyone who can afford a highly addictive and pleasurable habit. Drugs are not a controlled substance by any of the governments of the Hellenistic Empire, thinking that enslaving yourself to a drug is a harmless vice and has no ill effects on the body. Despite this, the Hellenistic governments do have laws against taking advantage of your customers and this often includes the drug industry. In every industry, there are people out there to make money by nepharious means, and this includes the drug industry. The Hellenistic governments have produced their first anti-monopolistic laws in order to keep the drug trade fair. However, that does not stop people from seeking drugs, which is a specialty of the Ariyan Alchemist. The Alchemy of Phaeselis The Alchemy of the City of Psionics delves into both mind and body. Here, the sciences of Mindchemistry, Psychemistry, and Somachemistry are practiced. The results are an exploration of the mind, of the human consciousness, Jekyll and Hyde Alchemy, and alchemy to induce altered states of emotion. Of the four, Mindchemistry and Psychemistry are the ones considered to be the noblest pursuits, due to the concentration of psionic culture in Phaeselis. The others are considered to be mad science (the Jekyll and Hyde Alchemy) or considered to be snake oil medicine (emotional Alchemy). Despite the warnings, alchemists do delve into these aspects of the human mind, the body, and it's emotional states. The first mindchemist was an Alchemist named Heirophilos Keristophanes who wanted to study how psionics worked. Instead of using the metaphysics of the Periapetic school to explain Psionics, the first mindchemist delved into the use of the chemistry of the mind. By studying the chemistry of the brain and what each hormone in the brain actually does, he came up with a working theory of mindchemistry and produced a disertation, a copy of which is found in the Great Library of Alexandria. That was over 30 years ago. His disciples, called Mindchemists, carry on his research. Psychemistry is an offshoot of mindchemistry research, and the idea is to study consciousness. It split into two branches: one branch delved into Altered states of consciousness, while the other study emotions and mind altering substanances in order to study human emotions. The first branch, pioneered by Lysander of Promachos, is the study of ayahausca and it's effects on the psyche. His disciples carry on his work, and are known as psychonauts. The other branch of Psychemistry deals with alchemical products that work in altered states of emotion. This branch is pioneered by Adonis Theodoridis, who wanted to understand the core of human desire and emotion. The science he started was not unlike Psychiatry and Psychology, but applied to Alchemy. So far, Adonis Theodoridis and his disciples can only inspire the base emotions of Rage and Hate. And some of their products, which are refined mind altering drugs, create more problems and psychiatric conditions than they cure. Adonis Theodoridis and his disciples are called ragechemists. The last Phaeselian Alchemy is Somachemistry or the study of the chemistry of the body. Despite new and powerful drugs used by the disciples of Asclepius, the study has turned to augmenting the human body. This study is pioneered by Thanos Vougiouklakis and his disciples of Alchemy. The result are often monstrosities, so much so that the people of Phaeselis shun them as mad scientists. Despite this, these Beastmorph alchemists seek to augment the body with Alchemy and mutagens that either create a monstrosity (Mr. Hyde) or mutate animal body parts of the body. Pelagasiri Chymical Archery Part of the weapons that the Pelagasiri elves have during the raids on Orc territory are arrows treated with alchemy. The alchemical reagents comes from the forests of the Dragon Mountains where they live. The Pelagasiri crafts these reagents from the forests located in the Dragon Mountains and some know the secrets of applying them to their arrows. The most talented of these barbarian chymists can often make these arrows on the fly during battle or other applications. Thanks to their status as barbarians, no one civilized city or nation wants to go out there and check out the knowledge of the Pelagasiri. This suits the elves just fine, the only problem they have to deal with are clever orcs trying to find out their secret. So the Pelagasiri guard the methods of making their alchemical arrows a secret. Products *Alchemical Arrows **Bleeding arrow **Durable arrow **Dye arrow **Lodestone arrow **Pheromone arrow **Raining arrow **Slow burn arrow **Splintercloud arrow **Tangleshot arrow **Trip arrow Massalian Alchemy The Alchemy of Elves who are studying demons and using demons to recreate Arvandor ever since their original lands of Arcadia were destroyed, practice an Alchemy that is distasteful. Their alchemy deal with oozes, not demons. Because alchemy produces a lot of waste product, the Massalian elves started to study ooze like creatures and devised an alchemical path around them. As centuries of discarded chemicals and reagents made a lake in Massalia not only undrinkable and pungent with foul smells, but it became a breeding lake for oozes. From this, they studied the living oozes to see what kind of a practical application they could have. Before long, Massalian alchemists had tamed and replicated the process by which their discarded chemicals became living (or semi-living) primordial oozes. Craft Ooze (Item Creation) Alchemists learning the ways of Massalian Alchemy have access to new knowledge. With this knowledge, you can use alchemy to create dangerous ooze creatures. Prerequisites Brew Potion, Craft Wondrous Item, Craft (alchemy) 3 ranks, caster level 5th. Benefit You can create living oozes as though they were magical items. Creating an ooze creature takes 1 day for each 500 gp in its construction cost. To create an ooze, you must have access to an oozing vat (see below), you must use up raw materials worth the construction cost of the ooze, and you must succeed at a Craft (alchemy) check (DC 10 + 2 x the ooze's CR). A failed check ruins the materials used, while a check that fails by s or more also results in an ooze that attacks its creator for id4 rounds before dissipating into useless waste material. A newly created ooze has average hit points for its Hit Dice. Oozes created with this feat, are mindless and uncontrolled, and even normally intelligent oozes (like slithering trackers) that are created this way have 1 no Intelligence score-nor any loyalty to their creator. While ooze creatures cannot normally be purchased in traditional marketplaces, GMs who wish to include such an option in their games-perhaps with oozes sold as black market commodities need only double the construction cost of a specific ooze creature in order to figure out a fair market price. The following table lists some of the most commonly crafted oozes and their creation requirements. At the GM's discretion, other types of ooze creatures can be created with this feat. Alchemical Equipment *Oozing vat Alchemical Products *Acid Neutralizer (Base) *Bloating Solution *Congealer Spray *Desiccating Lubricant *Slime Grenade Vedic Alchemy The Alchemy of the Vedics -- or Aryavartans -- is exactly the same as Thuvian Wish Alchemy, found on page 26 of the'' Alchemy Manual''. The Vedics seek the age reversing elixir of life. The result of their research is a number of useful items. Vedic Alchemical Products *Artokus' Fire *Blanch Bomb *Incense of Divinity *Stormstone *Suffocating Powder *Surge syrup Alchemy of Qin'ae This Alchemy will described in detail on the Qin'ae: The Middle Kingdom wiki. References Category:The World Category:Gazetteer Category:Chymistry Category:Alchemy